The love boat- exciting and new

Well no true romance was found with any person upon this boat- however I did fall in love... with the boat itself! Royal Caribbean Cruise line was AMAZING! 12 floors of pure fun is what we liked to call it!

Remember how we almost missed the ship on the first day? Okay not almost- but we were there right at the time they said "Do not arrive past this point" so we were a little bit stressed to say the least . Therefore when I first saw our Ms. Navigator of the Seas, aka our ship, I didn't really focus on how great she was. Instead it was more- get inside so it wont leave us!( After that, at each port, I truly was able to admire the beauty! Ü)

However, once inside I was shocked. I think we just stood there for a moment. I even said- is this really a ship? Its like a city in here!

Because I'm kinda cheap- we booked the least expensive room on the ship. Therefore, I really didn't have too many expectations. After getting all checked in, I was ready to collapse out of exhaustion! We opened our door and I was again surprised. Our room was much larger and spacious than I was picturing! It even had a couch- Just in case you wanted company I guess! :)

The two nights before our "at sea" days we did not set a wake up call. We were sure that we would wake up around 9 or so. However, our bodies had a different agenda. Because we didn't have a window- which meant no sun coming in to sing us good morning, we slept in until 10:30 or 11! The first morning I looked at the clock and was sure it was wrong! I think that I have now figured out how to have my children sleep late!

Since the ship is a little on the massive side, they had this map to help remind you where things are.

However sometimes we still got turned around. But all we had to do was look for Campbells and we knew we were just a few doors away! It really does do a body good!

The first time we walked through the Casino I almost lost my balance because the floor was one big pinball machine thing. It played tricks on your eyes so I can only imagine what that would be like if you were drunk! (Since most of the people in there were unfortunately!)

Royal Caribbean went ABOVE AND BEYOND to make us comfortable since we lost our luggage. They gave us toiletries, as many laundry vouchers as we needed, and T-shirts. Here we were on the first day with our newly acquired things!

So what do you do on a ship for so many hours? How about I take you on a little tour...

Maybe you could try a little mini golf.

Those of you who have played miniature golf with me may know that at at least one point in the game my ball ends up in some water. Whether it be the stream or pond etc. Therefore I was a little worried that the ball would end up in the water on this occasion as well- however, that water would equal the Mediterranean Sea. Which would have made it a little harder to retrieve! So I toned in down and really focused on not using my muscles too much!

After that you could head down a few floors and perhaps go ice skating.

It was the most international skating rink that I have ever been on! Not one other person spoke English while we were there! Therefore, getting someone to take these pictures was quite entertaining!

They even had an ice show later on that night. It was kinda like a "so you think you can dance" but on ice!

Then to a place for the kiddos! (Or for me!)

Video Games!

Now in all honesty, we did not actually play these. Unlike everything else that was free- they were expensive!!! About 1.25 per game. (Remember I'm cheap!) I WAS going to come back and play at least one time, but I was too occupied with other things that I actually forgot about it! I know! Shocking stuff.

So if you're really ready for an adventure you could try rock climbing or just skip on over to the basketball court.

Of course a cruise wouldn't be a cruise without some chairs to lay out and enjoy yourself! (I do not have a picture of myself doing this. Again, you are welcome!)

I didn't take a picture during the day either because there were lots of speedos and barely covered woman! I figured it was better to remember it this way!

Plus, I think that the clouds looked awesome!

On our first day at sea I decided to try out one of those chairs. I was so comfortable and so exhausted from the previous days stress in Rome that fell sound asleep for over an hour. I didn't move an inch. Which is weird since there were so many people around me- normally I am a little more self conscience than that!

When I woke up, I knew I was in trouble! I had major burn lines. But they weren't the normal burn lines. One of my legs was crossed over the other one- so only half of it got burned. Plus, my head was down over one side of my neck so there was a line on my neck where my shadow was. Half my neck was white and half was red! There was also some random white line that ran down my arm. I think there was some shadow from a part of the ship.

Lets just say that I stayed out of the sun for the rest of the time! You can see the funny burn lines in all the previous posts (Dad even mentioned it! You are super observant daddy-o!)

We made sure to watch the sunset on the ship! (Since we were never up in time to watch the sun rise!)

Tiffany and I went exploring one day and found something very different. Shuffleboard! We had never played it and decided that we would become pros. We found Nate and Larisa and gave it a try. Have you played this deceiving game before? One that looks so easy but turns out to not be so?

I may look like I know what I am doing, but turns out that I do not! You need a certain type of muscle that I apparently do not have! I would push with all my might and maybe get it 3/4th of the way! I tried to blame it on the forceful wind that decided to blow that day. However, it isn't a very good excuse when other people who are playing have no problem! Oh well! I guess I'll have to take up shuffleboard and practice getting those muscles.

Then the captain came on a said something that none of us understood expect for one word- Sicily. We looked up and there she was! We were floating by our beloved Sicily! It was fun to see her again!

I had to add this picture simply because it was so unbelievable windy that day - Tiffany's hair looks awesome!

So there you have it! A lot to do in the day- but then comes the evenings! That's when things get rocking! The main deck was always having something going on. From Mardi Gras, to fashion shows etc...

Since we don't drink, we didn't do the whole "bar thing" that I think everyone else on the boat did. Therefore, we made our own fun!

One night we went outside to take some pictures. It was SO windy that it took everything in us to stand! Unfortunately that is something that you cant capture in pictures. We were almost knocked into those chairs behind us. We were running with the wind pushing behind us and I thought for sure that I wasn't going to be able to stop and that I would go directly overboard!

Then there are the shows!

And lucky me to get the thrill of my life when it turns out that the FAB 4 were going to perform for us! I know!!! "How?" You ask since John and Goerge have long since left us? Well maybe they weren't the reals ones, but from where I was sitting you would have never been able to tell.

If you know me -even a little- you know that I love love love the Beatles. I figured that it was my one and only chance to feel like I actually got to see them perform. I was jumping around and singing every word to every song. It was a dream come true! I loved it! (Dont worry! I wasn't dancing alone! I'm not that weird!)


Feeling as though my life was complete after going to a Beatles concert- we were walking down a hallway that we had never gone down and look what we saw... My cute beatles (the real ones!) It was a perfect night!

I think that one of the best thing about Cruise ships were the surprises at night. Each night our beds were turned down and our room attended had made something out of our towells. Now that is a talent! I loved each one!

Elephant

Dog

Bat

Eskimo

Monkey

Swan

This wouldnt be a complete blog post had I not mentioned the dining room!

3 floors of beauty. I kinda felt like I was on the Titanic!

Two of the nights all the waiters sang to us on the stairs!

The best thing about the dining room was our table friends. Maureen and Brownwen from Wales. Oh how we loved these ladies. Really, I love anyone from the UK, but these ladies grabbed a special place in our hearts. They had us rolling on the table with laughter! Wether it was about how "dishy" our waiter was or how "sickly" the dessert was. They kept us laughing!

They made us promise to come visit them in Wales. It really didnt take much encouraging for us!I guess thats where the next vacation will be! UK here we come!

The first formal night occured before we got our luggage back. So the nicest ship ever- Royal Caribbean- loaned us formal dresses and a Tux for Nate. So nice. They were sleeveless so we had to do some fixing up. We had a shawl for Larissa and I had a black shirt to put under mine. We pulled it off, but I was kinda dreading having to do it again!

However, we didnt have to because our luggage came in time for the second one! I could wear my own clothes and do my hair normal! It was a glorious evening together!

I was always pretty skeptical about Cruises, but after this one, I am a fan! I never once got sea sick, I enjoyed having food around every corner, and the people were over the top with customer service! I can't wait to go back! :) (But maybe with all my luggage next time!)

Then the sun appeared

Crete is actually one of my most favorite places EVER!!! Why you ask? Because the heavens smiled down upon us that day.

Myriam- the most wonderful person ever- from Guest Services on the cruise was in charge of finding lost baggage. She called Alitalia every 2 hours from the moment we got on the ship and fought and fought and fought for us daily. Remember that all 3 bags were lost. The night before we stopped in Athens- Alitalia told Myriam a flight number and that our 2 sets of luggage would be there. (Nate's luggage was still unaccounted for somewhere in the universe.)

When we returned from our great adventures in Athens and walked into our room- no luggage. We went to the Guest Services desk and found out that basically Alitalia lied. (I told you they were not very nice!) It was at that point that I held back the tears with all my might as I walked back to my room. I hadn't cried about it throughout the whole trip, but I was almost at my breaking point. I was sure I would never see my luggage again. So we sailed away from Athens and THEN our luggage was sent there. Yep. The day after we left. Alitalia then said that they would just send it back to the US. Can you believe that?! Luckily Myriam again fought for us since we still had one more stop. So once again we were given a flight number and were told that they would be in Crete. But we didn't get our hopes up at all.

The ship docked at 7:00 am and we went to breakfast around 8:00 Am. Right before we left, we had to go to our room for one last thing. As we were walking down the hall towards our room, we noticed something red outside the door. Larisa said "what is that?! What is that?!" It was our luggage!!! September 11, 2009- precisely 8 days after we flew into Rome- Larisa and I got our luggage back! :) I think I woke up everyone as I ran down the hall screaming "MY LUGGAGE!!! ITS MY LUGGAGE!!! YOU'RE HERE!" I gave it a big hug! (I didn't kiss it because it was filthy and who knows where it had been!)

The first thing I noticed was how many tags were on it! I even said out loud "Oh my goodness! Where have you been?!" My bag was dirty and broken, but it was in my possession!" Oh happy day!

We didnt have much time on Crete so we didnt take time to open the plastic tie that was keeping it locked and find different clothes to wear. We just left merrily on our way. It poured down rain in Crete- and I could care less because I had new and dry clothes waiting for me! What a difference! :)

Since we only had a a few hours on the Island so we headed up to the Palace of Knossos. (This place was inhabited in 1700 BC! wow nelly! Thats old stuff!) As we got there it started sprinkling but we didn't want to pay 6 euros for a poncho- so we decided we would rather look like drowned rats in our photos. But we didn't care! We had our luggage and nothing else seemed to matter! We had a lot of strange looks from people. I could almost hear them saying "why do those people not have on rain gear? Do they even know its raining? Where are their parents?!"

I will say that with all that rain -Crete was sure green and beautiful!



The coolest thing about Knossos was that the buildings were red. Red EVERYWHERE! It was so different yet wonderful to see Ruins that had red in it!

We even got to see real excavation work! This lady in her blue gloves was being really careful! We did not disturb! We didn't want to be the reason for her to all of a sudden chisel out a very important piece of history!

We didn't have a guide for this place. So... I became the guide- Naturally. I made up stories everywhere we went- and I tell you...with what I came up with, Knossos was AWESOME! I think the other 3 would agree.

I showed them how the Kings would stand and present themselves to the people.

I decided that this was where they would pray. So I demonstrated (I didn't know Nate was taking a picture!) With a British accent I began"You simply stand with your legs shoulder width apart and with your arms stretched upward you begin to pray like this."


Now you dont need to wonder anymore as to why people were looking at us like we were strange. Because lets face it. We were.

(In this picture there is no one in the background because the rain was coming down so hard that everyone else was under canopies...except us!)

Do you all know the story of Knossos? Believe it or not...I did. (Which was another reason why I nominated myself as the tour guide of our little group of 4!) The minotaur played a big roll. A summed up version of the legend is (for those who really want to know) that a Labyrinth constructed for King Minos of Crete was designed to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Therefore there are a lot of pictures, paintings of the Minotaur/bulls.

(Do you see that paper in my hand? It started out being my "umbrella" but quickly became just a nuisance as there were no garbage cans to throw it in once it became sopping wet! ) You really can't tell but in this picture it is pouring like CRAZY!!! It's times like that that you have to just throw your hands back and enjoy!

After we left the palace we headed back to the city. My slippery flip-flops became much more of a hazzard as we added the rain to it. So we walked carefully but quickly back to the town.

Here is a great shot of the final look before we changed our clothes. Notice that my light lilac shirt was now a dark dark shade of purple. Two words- Drowned Rats! :)But we were still smiling! (Even though at this point I was FREEZING!)

However, before we headed back to the ship we had one more errand to run. We searched through the streets of Crete to find some flowers for our dear friend Myriam on the ship. She was our hero- for it was through her that our lost luggage was now found!

We love her!

Once I got that plastic tie off my bag and opened it- it was like Christmas! I was like- what on earth am I going to wear?! I have 10 outfits for 3 days! I'll never take my luggage for granted again! :)

Editors note (nate received his luggage the day after we returned to Phoenix! He wondered why he even packed! :) )

Now- I'm sure you are all wondering about what life was like on the ship- since we did have 7 nights and 2 full days at sea...well, thats next! :)